Earlier this year fans at the Korakuen Hall were treat to a special bout between former Japanese Welterweight champion Koji Numata (21-7-2, 16) and the hard working Takehiro Shimokawara (19-8-3, 6). The contest, which by all accounts was thrilling and action packed, saw no winner crowned with the men needing to accept that their heart and effort could only score them a split decision draw. Unfortunately whilst the men both received plaudits we didn't end up fill a title vacancy for the OPBF Light Middleweight. The bout, which we unfortunately can't find a video for, was described in all the the same terms as any great fight. Unfortunately however the disappointment of not winning seemed to get to Numata who soon announced his retirement and left us all feeling a little disappointed in not getting a rematch like everyone else seemed to want. Thankfully Numata thought twice about retirement and quickly agreed to face Shimokawara for a second time with the two men now meeting just 5 months after their first bout. For Numata this will be his third shot at the OPBF crown and could well be his last. He's not "old" by any stretch at just 30, but he's taken a lot of damage and from his reaction from the first fight his heart is probably not in boxing to just compete, he probably thinks it's about winning or walking away. At his best Numata was never a practitioner of the "sweet science". He's also been more of a fan of rough destruction and watching him you see a man who comes to fight not to box, you see a man who feels his power is more telling than that of his foes. In fact Numata's power is pretty impressive and has seen him stop the likes of Tadashi Yuba, Yuichi Ideta, Fukutaro Ujiie, Yoshihisa Tonimura, Go Nakahori and most recently Ryo Okayama. Sadly when he's not been able to blow foes away he has really struggled to pick up wins, in fact he has gone 5-4-2 in distance bouts. Dangerous but crude really does sum Numata who is popular on the Japanese domestic scene due to his style but is probably stuck between the domestic level and the OPBF level due to his relative lack of boxing ability. Whilst Numata is well known to fans who follow the Japanese domestic scene the same cannot be said for Shimokawara who is difficult to find footage of and very hard to get a real read on. What we know that he has shard the ring with some decent fighters, such as Akio Shibata, Akinori Watanabe, Numata obviously, Sanosuke Sasaki and Daisuke Nakagawa . Unfortunately for Shimokawara he does tend to come up short against those better fighters. Whilst he's not managed to get many notable wins Shimokawara has shown that he's very hard to stop, in fact only the very heavy handed Watanabe has stopped him, and Shimokawara was still on his feet when that was waved off. The fact Shimokawara is a tough, tough guy is a problem for Numata and the reason why Numata wasn't able to blow him away in their first meeting. As well as being tough we also know that Shimokawara is tall, rangy and difficult to get to. Yet more issues for Numata who will be giving away notable size going into this one. Though at 32 years old and with almost 200 rounds under his belt he has likely taken quite a bit of accumulative damage of his career. Going in to this bout we expect a bout very similar to the first contest between the two men. Numata will, as he always does, look for the stoppage, bring a lot of action and go for the KO and we think Shimokawara will meet him centre ring as we get 12 more rounds of none stop action between two warirors who have contrasting styles but styles that work well together to give fans a great fight. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) (Video below courtesy of fukumen11)
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Sometimes we get over-excited about bouts and feel disappointed when they don't live up to our lofty expectations. This happens and we know we're to blame for expecting more of fighters and fights. Sometimes however we get a feeling that something special will happen, our expectations won't just be met but will be exceeded. What we expect will be a war will be something even more brutal and exciting that we could have dreamt of. We think that on August 11th Japanese fans may get one of those super special bouts as two huge punching, aggressively minded young fighters collide in an opportunity to prove themselves as the best 140lb fighter in the Orient and even move into, or up the, world rankings. Going in to the bout the current and defending champion will be Keita Obara (11-1, 10), a 27 year old fighter from the Misako Gym. Obara was a top amateur with 55 wins from 70 bouts and was tipped for success as soon as he turned pro. Unfortunately he was matched incredibly hard on his debut and suffered a 5th round stoppage loss to the very experienced Kazuyoshi Kumano. Since then however Obara has developed mentally to become one of the most destructive fighters on the Japanese fight scene. Since his sole loss Obara has scythed through his opponents with 10 stoppages in 11 subsequent bouts. Those stoppages haven't just come against limited foes either and have included wins over the likes of the very heavy handed Kengo Nagashima, a very tough guy, and Tetsuya Hasunuma, the only man to survive beyond 8 rounds with Obara. Those string of wins have also seen him claim the Japanese title, which he defended twice, and the OPBF title which he will be hoping to defend for the first time. Although not technically the most talented fighter, Obara's power is genuinely potent and he's a scary man to get in the ring with. He can box on the back, box on the move or take the fight straight to you and his sole loss was down to maturity as opposed to skills or a weak chin. He tired himself out against a man who brought a lot of pressure to him and crumbled. Since then he has improved remarkably. Challenging for the belt is another big puncher, Shinya Iwabuchi (23-4, 19). Iwabuchi is a 29 year old who didn't have the notable amateur success that Obara did though like Obara he too lost on debut, in fact Iwabuchi lost his first 2 professional contests. Since then however he developed into a very talented fighter and only lost twice, once to Daiki Koide in a notable step up, and once to Min Wook Kim in an OPBF title fight. Of his bouts so far it's the Kim fight that was most interesting. The two men traded shots in one of the most exciting battles of 2013. Both men, at times, looked tired but both bit down on their gum shields to take part in an amazing fight that really didn't deserve a loser. It proved both men could take shots as well as throw them and it proved what the OPBF title really meant to both men. Iwabuchi is the slightly more cautious of the two men here, at least to begin with. Iwabuchi will happily move under pressure and then strike like a cobra to take his chance to unload when an opening appears, as shown in his brilliant opening round victory against Shamgar Koichi. It was in that fight in particular, a Strongest Korakuen Final, that Iwabuchi's handspeed and combinations really stood out as he drew Koichi in then unloaded a maelstrom of punches to send his foe down after hurting him. Soon afterwards the referee had to stop the action. What we have is not just two powerful puncher but we also have contrasting styles behind their power. For Iwabuchi his power and speed in combinations is destructive though in parts of fights he can get lazy and possible draw an opponent in to him. For Obara we have a heavy handed fighter who appears to have better 1-punch power but does lack experience has question marks over his stamina due to the fact he's been blowing opponents out. We also have 2 men looking for their biggest win. For Iwabuchi this is a chance to claim an OPBF title at the second time of asking whilst for Obara his reword is a probable top 15 world ranking with the WBO and possibly also the WBC. Both guys are hungry, but guys are young and both guys know what the other brings to the ring. What we're expecting is a thriller and, unsurprisingly, we don't expect this to go the distance. It will be violent, explosive and we expect both guys will be hurt at some point. We're not sure who will win but we know the fans will enjoy this one for as long as it goes on. It really will be something very special and in fact it's likely to be one of those FOTY contenders that only the lucky few who get to see it live will really appreciate. The bout will headline Dangan 110 and we expect that it will be worth the ticket price by it's self, amazingly however it has been coupled with a brilliant Japanese Super Flyweight title fight as well. (Image courtesy of Dangan boxing) Some domestic title fights get a little bit more attention than others and we think the upcoming Japanese Bantamweight title fight might be one such contest. That's not because of reigning champion Kentaro Masuda (19-6, 10) who is genuinely an unknown outside of Japan but instead it's because of the challenger, the memorable and charismatic Konosuke Tomiyama (24-6-1, 8). You might all remember Tomiyama for his Macau battle with Filipino Genesis Servania. That bout, fought last year, was thrilling with a contender for round of the year and also an outside runner for fight of the year. That bout saw 4 knock downs and genuinely stole the show. If you have a better memory you may also remember Tomiyama gave the then WBA Super Flyweight champion Nobuo Nashiro a real scare, twice dropping Nashiro in another action packed bout. Although Tomiyama has come up short in his two most notable bouts he has been involved in other notable bouts, including a very good win over Kuniyuki Aizawa and another win over Masamichi Nozaki. He will, however, be known for his losses which have generally come when he's faced the more notable opponents in his career. Whilst not the greatest fighter on the planet Tomiyama is a lot of things a fight fan wants to see. He is interesting, charismatic, memorable, hits harder than his record indicates and is also enigmatic. He could go from pushing a world level fighter all the way in one fight to struggling over a limited Thai journeyman. This unpredictability must frustrating for his team but will always draw in fans interested in seeing what Tomiyama turns up for any given fight. Masuda strikes us a more serious fighter. His record is sketchy with a handful of losses though he did suffer 3 of his 6 losses in his first 6 professional bouts. Since then he has knuckled down and developed into a very good little fighter winning 12 of his last 14. On paper that sounds good but it's even more impressive when you note that his those two losses came to Hidenori Otake and Ryosuke Iwasa, with the Iwasa bout being Masuda's first title bout. In his last 5 fights Masuda has strung together a quintet of wins, including a title winning effort against Yu Kawaguchi last time. That bout was the most impressive we've seen from Masuda who boxed well against a competent opponent and, although he wasn't amazing, showed his skills and just how much they had improved over the years. Masuda will be defending his belt for the first time and he will almost certainly be the under-dog against the more well known and taller Tomiyama. He will however go into the bout with real confidence of retaining his title and proving himself as one of the best Japanese Bantamweights out there, though admittedly he is a long way behind Shinsuke Yamanaka and Tomoki Kameda who are both world champions. For us this is an incredibly hard bout to call. Masuda is certainly in great form, that can't be denied, however Tomiyama when he's on form is very difficult to beat. It really does depend on which Tomiyama turns up and if he's on song he's likely to take the title back to the Watanabe Gym with him. Odds are though that Tomiyama doesn't turn up for the fight and Masuda manages to continue his great run. Whilst this is for the Japanese title it's also effectively an OPBF title eliminator. Masuda enters as the #1 OPBF ranked Bantamweight whilst Tomiyama is #5. With murmurs suggesting Iwasa is set to give up the OPBF belt the winner here is likely to get a sot at the vacant title next year, or, if Iwasa doesn't vacate, a shot at Iwasa next year. It's clear there is a big reward for a win here. (Image courtesy of Watanabe Gym/Dangan boxing) On July 18th Japanese fans get treat to a national title fight at Super Bantamweight between defending champion Hidenori Otake and domestic challenger Daisuke Furuhashi. For us Otake is the second best Super Bantamweight in Japan behind OPBF champion Shingo Wake (16-4-2, 9), a man we rate very highly. Wake returns to the ring just days after the Otake/Furuhashi fight and defends his OPBF title against the #1 ranked OPBF challenger Jaesung Lee (17-3-2, 9) from South Korea. Like Otake, Wake is world ranked and is looking towards a world title fight, though will know that he needs a win, and better yet an impressive one, if he is to make that next step get a fight for world honours either at the end of this year or early next year. Wake is a fighter we are huge fans of and despite his record he appears to be a genuinely class fighter who is combining his fantastic skills with experience and maturity. In fact in many ways he's a big like Hozumi Hasegawa, as far out as that sounds, who suffered early losses then developed into a sensational fighter. Wake lost 3 of his first 10 bouts though has gone 10-1-1 in his last 12 contests whilst moving through the rankings and becoming a real force. The first sign of Wake's potential was shown back in 2011 though he began finding his groove last year when he shocked the previously unbeaten Yukinori Oguni to claim the OPBF belt. Since then he has scored a trio of title defences, all by stoppage, and looked like a fighter who has really grown in confidence and self belief. Although Wake has recorded 4 successive stoppages his real trait isn't his power but his frustrating trickery. Firstly he's a tall, rangy Super Bantamweight, add that to the fact he's a southpaw with quick reactions and sharp counter-punching and the fact he can take a shot without being troubled and you have a nightmare to fight. Sure he picked up losses early in his career but in recent fights he has been busier, more accurate and hard hitting than he was early on and it's shown in his results and his ever growing reputation as a potential world champion in one of boxing's more loaded divisions. In the Korean challenger we have a man who will be determined to launch himself on to the world stage. Lee not only has a chance to claim an OPBF title here but also put himself immediately into the world title mix. That's a huge opportunity for a man who is one of the few active South Koreans to actually look like he's got something about him. Lee is a fighter who, like Wake, suffered losses relatively early in his career. In fact Lee began his career 10-3-1 before going 7-0-1 in his last 8 bouts which have included wins over a number of Wake's compatriots, including Akihiro Matsumoto, Seigo Sato and Takuya Watanabe. Rather interestingly Lee is 3-0 (1) in Japan and is 4-0-1 (1) again Japanese opponents, a very impressive record for a South Korean right now. Further to that is that all 3 of Lee's losses have come in the US to Jesus Salvador Perez, Jorge Diaz and, most notably, world champion Mikey Garcia. From what we've seen of Lee he has a lot of traits one has come to expect of Korean fighters. He's brave, he takes a good shot, despite having 2 stoppages on his record, and he's happy to take one if he's going to land one in return. Of course like many Korean's his defence isn't a strong point though he certainly looks after himself better than, for example, Ji Hoon Kim who fights like defence is a dirty word. One thing we did find very misleading about about his record is that on paper he's not a puncher, in reality it does look like he has some real sting in his right hand, he's not a concussive puncher obviously but he looks like a solid puncher. Whilst we do enjoy watching Lee, and his fight with Watanabe from earlier this year was an amazing blood bath, we really don't see him posing any threat to Wake who we expect will be too sharp, too skilled, too fast and too good for Lee. Lee is what he is, an entertaining but crude action fighter unfortunately for him we don't see any way in which he can trouble Wake who is an exceptional sharp shooter. Hopefully however Lee will be invited back to Japan for a better stylistic match up for his next fight as he's someone who is made for TV. As for Wake we think a win here will be followed by either a world title fight in early 2014 or a world title eliminator. Hopefully he'll get a major bout that is given international exposure so a fight with someone like Leo Santa Cruz, Carl Frampton or Scott Quigg would be really top of our list for Wake for next year. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) When we discuss the best Middleweight in Japan there is only one man who comes to mind, Ryota Murata. The Olympic champion isn't just the best Middleweight in Japan but probably the second best Middleweight from Asia right now behind Kazakhstan's Gennady Golvokin. The general view is that Murata is so far more advanced than anyone in his homeland that his next fight in Japan, at the end of the year, is likely to be his last before he sets off to the US to move towards a world title fight. Sadly the fact Murata is so much better than the others in his weight at home has perhaps hurt the domestic title scene but in fairness to the JBC and the OPBF they have both of their titles around the waist of the next best Middleweight in Japan, Akio Shibata (22-8-1, 9), one of the stars of the Watanabe Gym. Shibata was the debut opponent of Murata back in August 2013 and was stopped in the second round by the Olympic champion. He bounced back well from that loss however and dominated the big punching Daisuke Nakagawa to unify the OPBF and Japanese titles whilst also expelling any lingering demons following the loss to Murata. It's unfortunate in many ways that Shibata will be remembered by international fans as "the guy Murata beat on his debut" because he's actually a fantastically talented boxer-mover. He combines an intelligence in the ring with great hand speed and clever footwork. He may not be the most durable with 5 stoppage losses but he's worked on staying away from a tear up well and with reigns as unified champion at both 154lbs and 160lbs it's hard to discredit him. Whilst Shibata is much better than many fans realise, especially those who only know of him for the Murata bout, his opponent in his up coming title defence is a lot better than his record indicates. His challenger Hikaru Nishida (10-6-1, 3) has the record of an extremely limited fighter, someone who is miles away from being being a potential threat to one of the best Middleweights in Asia. Nishida however posses a record that is nothing short of misleading. The challenger lost 5 of his first 10 bouts beginning his career 4-5-1. Those losses were all close and, although on paper, it was an awful start to his career he did seem better than the records suggest and he also went 1-1 Sanosuke Sasaki, who later became the Japanese Middleweight champion. Since his first 10 bouts Nishida has gone 6-1 scoring a string of notable wins including a stoppage over former multi-time title challenger Fukutaro Ujiie, a decision over former 2-weight OPBF champion Kazuhiko Hidaka and most recently a decision over former world title challenger Makoto Fuchigami. Whilst those wins may have been a little bit down to luck and timing on Nishida's part they are all very solid wins and the sort of wins that deserve to get someone a domestic title fighter. At 26 years old Nishida is coming into his prime, he's battled hardened and, although not fully developed as a fighter or a man, he is a very credible challenger in the form of his life. Unfortunately him some would argue he's a small Middleweight, stood at 5'9, and should be competing at 154lbs if he can make that weight. We are fans of fighters who battle through early career adversity like Nishida has. It's things like that that make us get behind fighters like Gerpaul Valero and Rey Loreto. Unfortunately for Nishida however we think Shibata's talent and speed will be too much to overcome and in the end Nishida will put up a brave effort but lose a clear cut decision to a talented and often over-looked fighter who deserves more respect than he seem to get. (Image courtesy of Watanabe gym) Although some what unknown on the international stage Hisashi Amagasa (26-4-2, 17) is a man who is starting to make his mark on the world stage. He's not only a former Japanese Featherweight champion but is the current OPBF champion at 126lbs and has managed to earn himself top 15 rankings with all 4 major title bodies. Western fans might not recognise his face or his name but he's a fighter who really beginning to prove himself and come in to his own as a potential world title challenger. Part of why Amagasa is so highly ranked is his OPBF title, the belt tends to act as a huge booster towards a world ranking with the WBC, another part of why he is ranked is the fact he has scored 11 successive wins one though the biggest reason is that some of those wins have come against recognisable fighters including a decision over former WBA Super Bantamweight world champion Ryol Li Lee. The most significantly reason however is not that he has just won his last 11 fights but the fact that those wins were against mostly credible opponents, not just Lee, and good wins do help improve a fighters rankings. Amagasa will be hoping to extend his winning run to 12 fights this week when he returns to defend his OPBF title for the second time. Unfortunately however this defence comes against a much more limited foe than a number of his recent fights. That's because Amagasa will be fighting the very limited Thai Maxsaisai Sithsaithong (14-4, 3) who really is a very questionable OPBF title challenger. Aged 35 Maxsaisai is getting the biggest fight of his career and it could well be his last. At the early stages of his career Maxsaisai looked very promising. He won his first 11 fights in under 3 years before being forced out of the ring in 2007. It took over 5 years before the fighter returned to the ring and unfortunately his return has been less than memorable with 3 wins and 4 losses including a decision loss to journeyman Jack Asis, a loss to Juan Martin Elorde and stoppages to Joel Brunker and Jun Doliguez. Those results, which make up 4 of the last 6 bouts for Maxsaisai suggest that he's not fit for an OPBF title fight. From what we've seen of the Thai there is nothing that he has that should worry Amagasa, in fact he has nothing that should worry any OPBF ranked fighter at 126lbs. He's not a puncher, he's not ultra skilled, he's not fast, he's not going to break you down. In all honesty he's just very poor. Amagasa, whilst not comparable to the likes of Shinsuke Yamanaka or Takashi Uchiyama is a very talented fighter. He combines skills, power and awkward size to make himself a very hard to beat fighter and despite having 4 losses on his record he's developed into a very good fighter and one we'd suggest could hold his own with some of the current world champions. With all the tools at Amagasa's disposable we're expecting to see him stop Maxsaisai as he continues his march towards a world title fight. With the reach and height of the Japanese fighter we'd not be shocked at seeing him lining up powerful straight that eventually wear down the over-matched challenger who will be lucky to see out more than 6 rounds. (Image courtesy of http://www.kadoebi.com) All too often in boxing fans over-look the smaller fighters despite how exciting they can be. Last year so one such over-looked but brilliant fight in Thailand as Japan's Koki Eto (14-3-1, 10) went to Bangkok and won a war with Thailand's very own Kompayak Porpramook for the WBA interim Flyweight title. The bout was one our favourites from last year and one of the most scintillating bouts of recent years. Eto's reign as interim world champion didn't last long and less than 4 months after his victory over Porpramook he was beaten himself by Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep in what was his first defence. Like the Porpramook bout it was a ard one and will have added considerable miles to the clock of the all action Japanese fighter. Almost 7 months on from the loss to Yodmongkol we see Eto returning to the ring and fighting against experienced Filipino Ardin Diale (23-8-3, 10) in a bout for the vacant OPBF Flyweight title, a bout that promises to be an all out war. From the fights we've seen of Eto he's never gong to be a talented boxer. He is a warrior through and through, he comes to fights and will either win or go out on his shield in exciting fashion. In all honesty he is a perfect "made for TV" fighter but sadly doesn't appear to be getting much TV time. In Diale we have a more experience fighter who has seemingly been around forever but at just 25 years old he is younger than his Japanese and has already fought at a higher level. In fact in 34 fights the list of notable names Diale has faced include Rodel Mayol, Wanheng Menayothin, John Riel Casimero, Julio Cesar Miranda and Juan Francisco Estrada, a very impressive list of opponents. Although Diale typically comes up short against the best opponents that he faces he has proven to be a very credible fighter who combines toughness, heart and action. Just like Eto he is a very TV friendly fighter who comes to the ring to fight. Sadly he has been stopped 3 times, though all of those stoppages have come to world class fighters and and they have all come with Diale having given a good account of himself against opponents who looked bigger than himself. With a pair of warriors we are bound to have a fire cracker here and we're actually very split on who we think will come out on top. Eto has home field advantage, though has never previously fought in a title fight in Japan, and has had a slightly longer training camp. Diale, who was a replacement opponent, is in the form of his life and has won 6 of his last 8, all by KO. We, as a team, couldn't make a guess on the winner though we all agreed that this has potential FOTY written all over it and is very unlikely to go the scheduled 10 rounds. It has a war written all over it and we hope that it lives up to that potential. The winner is unlikely to progress to winning world titles, especially in the insanely difficult Flyweight division, but the fans are certainly not going to be disappointed by following either man after this fight. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) This coming week is, lets be honest, all about Kazuto Ioka's attempt to become a 3-weight world champion a he battle IBF Flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand. With such a big and significant fight however it's easy to forget that there are two other title bouts on the show, one of which includes Ioka's stable-mate Masayoshi Nakatani (7-0, 5). Nakatani is widely viewed as one of the best prospects at the Ioka gym, run by Kazuto's uncle and former world champion Hiroki Ioka. He has shown his skills, power, speed and development in his last 2 bouts which have seen him upset both Shuhei Tsuchiya (KO3) and Yoshitaka Kato (MD12), with the Kato victory being one which saw Nakatani claiming the OPBF Lightweight title. The victory over Kato was tough. He was the "away" fighter and he was fighting in his first bout scheduled for more than 8 rounds, in fact his career up to that point had consisted of just 21 combined rounds. Despite the difficult of the bout Nakatani showed the traits that have got those at the Ioka gym so excited about him. He showed his skills, his guts, his toughness and his ability to adapt. It was hard but it was rewarding and didn't just net Nakatani the OBPF title but also developed him as a fighter. He had now proven he could do 12 rounds, he had proven that could take a shot and he had proven that he knew what to do when hurt. Nakatani will perhaps need to call on those lessons in his first defence as he battles the OPBF #7 ranked Lightweight Mondo Harada (26-7-1, 12). Harada is a Filipino fighter who is, perhaps, better known by his real name of Ricky Sismundo. Like many foreign fighters in Japan he has been given a change of name for either sponsorship reasons or to try and make him more marketable to a Japanese audience. The challenger has fought 2 of his last 3 bouts in Japan, winning both of those by stoppage, in fact he has won 4 of his last 5 stoppage indicating that he does hit harder than his record shows. His record is skewed in that respect as his career began when he was just a 19 year old kid and he was put in with some decent Filipino domestic opponents, as a result he scored just 2 stoppages in his first 14 bouts whilst going 11-3. Despite the less than stellar start to his career the Filipino managed to turn things around excellently and found his punching form over the following few years, despite picking up losses to Daud Cino Yordan, Terdsak Kokietgym, Billy Dib and Dante Jardon adding further to the experience of Sismundo/Harada. Aged 27 the Filipino challenger will know that this is his biggest chance so far though will also know what he's up against. Nakatani's perfect record and last 2 big wins should suggest that's talented but the stand out feature about him is his build. He is tall, rangy and lanky. Stood at 5'11" he's a Lightweight monster who loves to use his rangy features to his advantage with crisp body uppercuts and lovely straight shots up stairs all of which have real venom on them. If you let Nakatani control distance you really give yourself no chance. At 5'5" the challenger is going to really have grit his teeth to get inside the champion, he's going to have to take some vicious shots to the mid-section, some concussive shots up top and prove his toughness just to stay in the fight. In all honesty we can't see him doing that for 12 rounds and with the experience of the Kato fight we can't see any way in which Nakatani loses unless he gets reckless. (Image courtesy of boxmob.jp) OPBF title fights seem to come in two varieties. They tend to either be total mismatches where one fighter, usually the champion, is an unbackable favourite or they are genuinely brilliant match ups with fighters on the verge of world rankings if not a world title a fighter. Whilst the mismatches, such as the recent bout between Yoshihiro Kamegai and Jung-Hoon Yang, are very much bouts to be missed and not thought too much off we get other bouts, like the recent contest between Jonathan Taconing and Vergilio Silvano, that are genuine FOTY contenders. We get another potentially brilliant match on this coming Monday as former Japanese Light Welterweight champion Keita Obara (10-1, 9), one of the most fearsome punchets in Asia, battles Filipino Jay Solmiano (17-2-1, 13), a former OPBF Lightweight title challenger, for the vacant OPBF Light Welterweight title. Of the two men it's fair to say that Obara has to be the favourite. He's not only fighting at home in Japan but he's also the naturally bigger man having fought his whole professional career at 140lbs or above and he's also the bigger puncher. Although he has lost that was back in August 2010, on his more than ambitious debut against the experienced Kazuyoshi Kumano, and since then he has been on a tear defeating opponents in double quick speed. Of his 10 victims so far they have survived a total of 50 rounds and none of them have really come close to beating him. With vicious power Obara isn't someone you want to get hit cleanly by. He can sometimes be a slow starter though he knows he only needs to tag an opponent once to lay them out and he does tend to land the big, powerful, hurtful shot that either finishes and opponent or opens them up for the finish. In Solmiano we have a fighter with a misleading record. Looking at it you see two losses though one of those came in Japan via split decision to Nihito Arakawa, a bout many felt Solmiano deserved to win, the other loss came inside a round to Rey Labao in a bout that Solmiano destroyed himself trying to make weight for. Since moving up from Lightweight, where he suffered both of those losses, Solmiano has gone 6-0 (6) and taken just 16 rounds to beat those 6 opponents. Although his record might not show it directly Solmiano is a big puncher himself. Unfortunately for the 27 year old Solmiano he hasn't scored any win of real note and he has has lost both of his bouts with "name" fighters. Of course that doesn't mean he's bad but he's not proven himself to be at Obara's level. It's also worth noting that he wasn't the original opponent and instead he's a replacement for fellow Filipino Adones Cabalquinto. Sure he's been given plenty of time to prepare for the contest but Obara did get a few weeks preparation time. On the flip side of that point Obara was preparing for a different opponent. As to the actual fight we're a very slow fight fought at a deliberate pace from both men early on. They both know they possess power and can almost certainly hurt the other man though can be badly hurt themselves. It'd be foolish for either man to get tagged in the opening round or two and be stopped. Instead they will ease themselves into the bout, maybe an occasional early exchange but only an occasional one. By round 4 or 5 however the pace will begin to quicken and this will leave us to eciting round or two before one man, we believe Obara, lands a bomb at some point. We're envisioning Obara tagging Solmiano hard and a follow up attack sends him down. We imagine the Filipino probably will get up but will be saved soon afterwards. With both men capable of landing bombs it's not out of the question that Solmiano is the one who connects bit and that's why this one gets our pulses racing a little bit. Don't be surprised if this one starts pretty forgettably but ends up being something a little special before the end. Interesting this title was vacated a while back by Korean Min Wook Kim. We'll be honest we would love to have seen a fight between Kim and the winner, it'd a very special fight between heavy handed fighters and it would be one of those fights where you couldn't take your eye off the action just in case one of them were to land a bomb. Hopefully the winner will get the chance to defend again Kim though it's looking very unlikely with the Korean having almost vanished off the face of the planet in recent months. (Poster courtesy of boxmob.jp) The OPBF titles are viewed as an honour by fighters through out Asia, though unfortunately not all the challengers for the belts are particularly great. This is the case this weekend as Korean Jung-Hoon Yang (8-5, 2) challenges for the OPBF Welterweight title. Yang is a 2-time Korean champion at 147lbs and he is a former OPBF title challenger. Although his record may suggest that he's a bum, he really isn't and had he had better connections he may well have had a slightly better record. Despite his record though he did score a notable victory in his last bout, taking a decision over Japan's Shamgar Koichi. It's that victory that has really helped him to get this opportunity. Unfortunately for Yang his last OPBF title fight ended terrible, with the Korean stopped in just 4 rounds by the big punching Akinori Watanabe. We're expecting something similar to happen here as he takes on reigning champion Yoshihiro Kamegai (23-1-1, 20), another monstrously big punching Japanese fighter. Kamegai, if you've somehow not seen him, is a fun to watch fighter. He's generally quiet basic and can be out boxed but few will out slug him with his explosive power. At his worst Kamegai can be made to look stupid, stationary and 1-dimensional, as he was in his loss to the under-rated Johan Perez, at his best though he's a terrifying puncher who destroys what he hits. From what we know of Yang he's not an awful fighter but we simply can't imagine him taking the power of Kamegai very well at all and his own lack of fire power won't keep the Japanese fighter honest. Instead Kamegai will walk though the return fire in the knowledge that his own heavy artillery will simply be too much for the over-matched challenger who will likely last 4 or 5 rounds as Kamegai slowly but steadily grinds down his challenger. We;re hoping that if Kamegai, as expected, is successful here we'll see him in with a more fitting challenger next time. We know that the Welterweights in Asia are limited but fights featuring Kamegai and Suyon Takayama, Akinori Watanabe, Teerachai Kratingdaenggym or Patomsuk Pathompothong would all be very interesting. Certainly more so than this bout seems like to be. If you want us to sum this up in a world we're expecting to see a show case performance of Kamegai, his power and his style. He's almost always fun to watch, but it's just a shame that it's not coming against a suitable dance partner. (Poster courtesy of boxmob.jp) |
Previews
Having canned the old "Full Schedule" of Asianboxing we have instead decided to concentrate more on the major bouts. This section, the "Preview" section will look at major bouts involving OPBF and national titles. Hopefully leading to a more informative style for, you the reader. Archives
October 2022
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